A note to self-published book authors…

 

Actually a few notes…

 

I found two interesting SharePoint 2013 search books at Amazon and ordered them. I just received them… and I'm going to return both of them. This will be the first time I have ever returned a printed book!

 

Self-publishing is easy, fun and very rewarding. But…

Note 1: All printed technology books must have an index! Indexes are easy to create in Microsoft Word. You can either create a busy looking, but not too useful, index using the automatic features, or invest a couple hours and manually create a very useful one. In any case be forewarned, I do not buy technical books that do not have an index!

Note 2: Do not tell me in the book's intro that all of the content in the book is straight from your blog articles. Especially don't tell me that I could have gotten it all for free from the blog. (Boy, do I feel dumb paying for that book.) Don't just copy your blog articles and call it a book. Books that build on your blog articles can really be useful. Creating the book is your opportunity to expand on the topic and rewrite the quickly written text into nice complete articles. Fix up the screen captures. Fill in the gaps. Rewrite the hastefully written text. You know… create what you would have done in the blog if you had time to do it right the first time.

Note 3: Do not fill the pages with giant screen captures so there's an average of one screen capture and only one or two sentences per page. That works for a kid's picture book, but does not deliver much value as a technical book. In any case, please, please size and crop the screen captures so they are always readable and to the point.

Note 4: Pay somebody, anybody, to proofread the book. They don't have to know the technology. They just have to know some basic English and know enough to ask if all the code really should be underlined! If you want to really do it right, find someone who has heard of the Chicago Manual of Style, At a minimum buy yourself a copy of the Microsoft Manual of Style, and give a copy to your proofreader.

Note 5: Look at some of the tech books from the big publishers. I mean, open them, look at the details, note what is there and what is not. Note the use of "front matter". Note that page numbers go on the outside edges of pages, not in the gutter. Note the use of font size and the limited use of bold and italics.

 

</rant>

 

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What do you call that? How do you capitalize this? The Microsoft Manual of Style

 

How do you…

If you write in the world of technology, whether blogs, books, training manuals, or even PowerPoint slides for your local user group, then you are often asking things like:

• Is it “sub-folder” or “subfolder”?
• What is that thing at the bottom of the screen called?
• Is it an “Application Menu” or an “App Menu”?
• Is it a “Status Bar” or a “status bar”

In the old days we would often refer to the Chicago Manual of Style for general writing guidelines, and over the years for Microsoft related writing, the Microsoft Manual of Style. The problem with the Microsoft manual is that is was getting quite dated, it was last updated in 2004, and in technology, that’s the dark ages!

The Microsoft Manual of Style as finally been updated, and what an update! I’ve only browsed though it picking up things here and there, and I’ve got to put it down and get back to work! They have included everything I need and even added coverage for Windows Phone. 437 pages of good stuff.

It’s not 100% complete as it does not have a product by product focus. SharePoint is not in the index! But, the book has to be light enough to carry, and there are other resources for products like SharePoint. (SharePoint glossary: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/ee556558.aspx)

 

There’s no excuse not to get it!

The paper back version is only $16.35 at Amazon and the Kindle version is only $9.95. You should get both… I’ve already dog-eared my paper copy and filled it with “stickies”, and I want the Kindle version to have with me everywhere I go. 

And, no you can’t borrow my copy!

(But I will bring it to the SharePoint User Group meeting Thursday night if you like to take a peek.)

 

 

Chapter 1: Microsoft style and voice

Chapter 2: Content for the web

Chapter 3: Content for a worldwide audience

Chapter 4: Accessible content

Chapter 5: The user interface

Chapter 6: Procedures and technical content

Chapter 7: Practical issues of style

Chapter 8: Grammar

Chapter 9: Punctuation

Chapter 10: Index and keywords

Chapter 11: Acronyms and other abbreviations

 

(and yes, they did their chapter titles with lower case words! I’ll have to look that one up too…)

 

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SharePoint 2010 Book Recommendations

I have not created a book list in quite a while and needed to put together an updated SharePoint 2010 book list for the folks who attend my classes. This list is not complete and unless otherwise noted only contains books I have personally reviewed.

Let me know of there are any other books you think I should review and possibly add to this list…

 

 

Categories of books below:

• SharePoint 2010- “the big picture” / overview / understanding
• SharePoint 2010 End Users / Site Owners / Power Users
• SharePoint 2010 Administrator
• SharePoint 2010 Developer
• SharePoint 2010 Governance

 

SharePoint 2010 - “the big picture” / overview / understanding

Essential SharePoint 2010: Overview, Governance, and Planning (Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series)
This book is for anyone wanting to find out what SharePoint can do. It's sometimes described as the book to give to your manager who knows nothing about SharePoint and wants to know what it can do while not having to learn every detail about how to do it.

 

SharePoint 2010 End Users / Site Owners / Power Users

SharePoint End User

SharePoint 2010 How-To

Click here for my review of this book.

 

SharePoint Workflows

SharePoint 2010 Workflows in Action

Includes both SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio workflow topics.

 

SharePoint Designer

Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft))

 

SharePoint Branding and Customization

My book of course!

SharePoint 2007 and 2010 Customization for the Site Owner

This book is designed to get you started in customizing your SharePoint site with the tools you have readily at hand. This book has complete copy and paste solutions, and it also shows how each solution was crafted and how it works. After working through a few of the customizations and picking up some basic skills, you can start to figure out how SharePoint has been put together and start creating your own customizations.

SharePoint 2010 branding in practice: a guide for web developers

Click here for my review of this book.

 

SharePoint and InfoPath

Designing Forms for SharePoint and InfoPath: Using InfoPath Designer 2010 (2nd Edition) (Microsoft .NET Development Series)

 

SharePoint 2010 Administrator

These include books for everyday use and for certification prep.

(1) = I supply this book with my “SharePoint 2010 Certification Bootcamp for Administrators” class.

SharePoint Administration

Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 (1)

Click here for my review of this book.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administrator's Companion (1)

Essential SharePoint 2010: Overview, Governance, and Planning (Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series)  (1)
This book is for anyone wanting to find out what SharePoint can do. It's sometimes described as the book to give to your manager who knows nothing about SharePoint and wants to know what it can do while not having to learn every detail about how to do it.

 

SharePoint and PowerShell

Automating SharePoint 2010 with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Excellent book! Over 700 pages on both PowerShell for SharePoint and "got to knows" about administration. If you are building multiple farms, finding yourself doing the same thing over and over again, or creating a scripts for a disaster recovery plan, then you need this book!

 

 

SharePoint 2010 Developer

These include books for everyday use and for certification prep.

(2) = I supply this book with my “SharePoint 2010 Certification Bootcamp for Developers” class.

SharePoint Development

SharePoint 2010 Development with Visual Studio 2010 (Microsoft .NET Development Series) (2)

Professional SharePoint 2010 Development (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (2)

Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2010 (2)

 

SharePoint Workflows

SharePoint 2010 Workflows in Action (2)

Includes both SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio workflow topics.

SharePoint Governance

SharePoint Deployment and Governance Using COBIT 4.1: A Practical Approach

Click here to read an excerpt of this book on TechNet.

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Book review: Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010

 

Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010

Author: CA Callahan

 

Ok, I'm impressed! I own and I have reviewed a lot of SharePoint books over the years. This one is one of the most complete and useful I have found. Usually after I have read or reviewed a book I eventually give it away in one of my classes or at the local user groups. I'm keeping this one!  (Sybex… do you want to send me some copies for the SharePoint user group?)

Who is the book for? A quick look at the TOC would make you think that it is just for administrators as it has chapters on install, configuration and backup, and it really is a book for administrators. But, it's also one of the best books I seen for Site Owners and Power Users! Of the 16 chapters, a good 7 1/2 are ideal for non-administrators, and those chapters as well worth the price of the book. (currently $34.63 at Amazon)

Even if you are an experienced SharePoint administrator, you will find a lot of useful real-world content. You may even get your money's worth from just reading the hundreds of little gray "sidebars" spread though out the book. (I did.)

While the title says “Foundation”, remember Foundation is the foundation of SharePoint Server. There’s almost nothing in this book that does not apply to all versions of SharePoint 2010.

This book is huge! It's just under 1300 pages. There's a Kindle version available if you don't want haul the big book around. (I still like to dog ear, highlight and write in paper books myself.)

If you want to preview it, chapter 1, the TOC and the index are available as PDFs at the publisher's site: www.sybex.com/go/masteringsharepointfoundation2010

 

I think you might guess I like this book. So much so I'm adding it to the collection of books supplied with my SharePoint 2010 Certification Boot Camp for Administrators class.

 

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